ISLANDS OFF THE BEATEN TRACK... by Museum of Cycladic Art

Front Cover: Relief stern of a warship (trihemiolia) carved on the lower terrace of the Lindos acropolis. Early 2nd cent. BC. All rights reserved. No part of this book, texts or photographs, may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the explicit permission in writing of the authors, the Ephorates of Antiquities and the editors. © Museum of Cycladic Art – Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Tourism (22nd EPCA – 4th EBA) ISBN: 978–960–7064–93–6

ISLANDS OFF THE BEATEN TRACK…

An archaeological journey to the Greek islands of Kastellorizo, Symi, Halki, Tilos and Nisyros

Edited By Nicholas Chr. Stampolidis – Yorgos Tassoulas – Melina Filimonos-Tsopotou

Αthens 2011

Organizing Committee â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Working Team Professor Nicholas Chr. Stampolidis Director, Museum of Cycladic Art Maria Lagogianni Head of the Directorate of Museums, Exhibitions and Educational Programmes, Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Tourism Melina Filimonos-Tsopotou Director of the 22nd Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities Maria Michailidou Director of the 4th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities Charikleia Lanara Archaeologist, Directorate of Museums, Exhibitions and Educational Programmes, Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Tourism Yorgos Tassoulas Archaeologist, Curator, Museum of Cycladic Art Eugenia Albani Architect, Directorate of Museums, Exhibitions and Educational Programmes, Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Tourism

Honorary Committee Pavlos Yeroulanos Minister of Culture and Tourism Lina Mendoni Secretary General, Ministry of Culture and Tourism Sandra Marinopoulos President of the Nicholas and Dolly Goulandris Foundation Maria Andreadaki-Vlazaki Director General of Antiquities and Cultural Heritage Panos D. Marinopoulos Member of the Board of Trustees, Nicholas and Dolly Goulandris Foundation

EXHIBITION

CATALOGUE

Concept – Coordination Professor Nicholas Chr. Stampolidis Director, Museum of Cycladic Art

Edited by Professor Nicholas Chr. Stampolidis Director, Museum of Cycladic Art

Curators Professor Nicholas Chr. Stampolidis Director, Museum of Cycladic Art

Yorgos Tassoulas Curator, Museum of Cycladic Art

Dr Melina Filimonos-Tsopotou Director, 22nd EPCA Yorgos Tassoulas Curator, Museum of Cycladic Art Museographic Project Nicholas Chr. Stampolidis – Yorgos Tassoulas Architectural Design Bessy Drounga – Antonis Dragonas Finance Managing Athanassios Massouras Director of Financial Department Dimitris Vorvolakos Communication Eugenia Christodoulakos Director of Communication and Development Maria Basagianni, Alexia Vasilikou, Stella Tsagkaraki, Christina Koratzani In collaboration with Sofia Doxiadi-Zavvos, Titina Patera, Glykeria Tsernou Conservation of Artefacts Michalis Kostas, Dimitris Kougios, Nektaria Dasakli Mounting of Artefacts Christos Stefanidis Graphics Alkis Kiourktsoglou - Think Beauty Audiovisuals Eliana Abravanel Showcases Construction A. Leledakis – Venetidis Bross O.E. Lighting Nikos Vrailas, Tassos Kostis Custodians Chr. Dounis, V. Fylaktopoulos, D. Gallis, Ch. Kontrafouris, T. Kostis, I. Lourentzatou, D. Panourgias, S. Papoulias, Y. Piskopanis, V. Rodopoulos Transportation of Antiquities Orphée Beinoglou Insurance Eurolife

Dr Melina Filimonos-Tsopotou Director, 22nd EPCA Translation Judy Giannakopoulou Lilia Psarrou Tania Kantziou Layout Alkis Kiourktsoglou - Think Beauty Production UP PRESS Ltd

Authors of Introductory Texts Kalliopi Bairami Eleni Farmakidou Melina Filimonos-Tsopotou Charistoula Giakoumaki Eriphyle Kaninia Angeliki Katsioti Toula Marketou Maria Michalaki-Kollia Eleni K. Papavassiliou Fotini Zervaki

Authors of Catalogue Entries Kalliopi Bairami Anastasia Dreliossi-Herakleidou Calliope-Maria Farmakidi Eleni Farmakidou Melina Filimonos-Tsopotou George Gavalas Charistoula Giakoumaki Efthymios Kakavogiannis Eriphyle Kaninia Anna-Maria Kasdagli Angeliki Katsioti George Kavvadias Konstantia Kefala Toula Marketou Nikolaos Mastrochristos Maria Michailidou Irene Nikolakopoulou Stella Paleologou Ioannis Ch. Papachristodoulou Eleni K. Papavassiliou Vassiliki Stefanaki Pavlos Triantafyllidis Fotini Zervaki

Photo Credits

© The photographs accompanying the introductory texts are from the photography archives of the 22nd Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities (ECPA), the 4th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities (EBA) and the Museum of Cycladic Art. Warm thanks are expressed to the Superintendency of Antiquities in Tuscany (Florence) for providing the photograph in fig. 5 of the introductory Halki text, as well as to the British Museum for providing the photographs in fig. 7a-e of the Tilos introductory text. The photographs of artefacts in this Catalogue are from the photography archives of the 22nd ECPA and the 4th EBA. Warm thanks are also expressed to the National Archaeological Museum (Athens) for providing the photographs of entries no. 13 and 14 from Kastellorizo (inv. no. Χρ 1058 and Χ 14607) and to the 7th EPCA (Olympia Archaeological Museum) for the photographs of entry no. 21, an artefact from Halki (inv. no. 13876). Regarding the black-and-white photograph of the fragment of a relief in the Ashmolean Museum of Oxford, which is used for Symi entry no. 15, we thank Mrs Calliope-Maria Farmakidi.

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For the sponsorship of the catalogue as well as significant part of the exhibition, the Museum of Cycladic Art would like to thank: Athina J. Martinos Alexander and Marietta Goulandris John Chandris and Michael Chandris George and Lita Livanos George and Sophie Coumantaros George Economou Gregory Callimanopulos Dimitris and Areti Dalakouras Dimitris Melissanidis Thanassis and Marina Martinos Melina Travlos Nikolas and Irini Lemos Dinos and Lia Martinos Antonios E. Komninos Foundation Maria Tsakos Foundation Nikolas D. Pateras Foundation Alpha Tankers and Freighters International Ltd. A.M. Nomikos Transworld Maritime Agencies S.A. Franco Compania Naviera S.A. Kassian Maritime Navigation Agency Ltd. Oceanbulk Maritime S.A.

Contents Forewords ……………………………………………………………………………………..………....................…………….…….. 13 Preface …………………………………………………………………………………………………………….....................……......... 17

Kastellorizo – Rho – Strongyli Introductory Texts ………………………………………………………………………………………....…...................…….. 24 Catalogue of Objects ……………………………………………………………………...................…...........…………….. 50

Symi Introductory Text …..………………………………………………………………………................…………........….…..…. 84 Catalogue of Objects ……………………………………………………………………................……...........……….…. 108

Halki – Alimnia Introductory Texts …………………………………………………………………………………..................….…….…. 166 Catalogue of Objects …………………………………………………………………………........................……….……. 190

Tilos Introductory Text ….…………………………………………………………………………….................….………….…. 230 Catalogue of Objects …………………………………………………………………................………………............…. 252

Nisyros – Yali – Pyrgousa Introductory Texts …………………………………………………………………………................…….…………….…. 306 Catalogue of Objects …………………………………………………………………………................….……........……. 338

Abbreviations – Bibliography ……………………………………………………. 420

Kastellorizo, Symi, Halki, Tilos, Nisyros. Islands that experienced days of great prosperity and wealth, but also endured the harsh reality of marginalization and abandonment. Remote and inaccessible regions of Greece, their exceptional natural beauty and immense cultural riches never cease to amaze us. If we want to eliminate the term “off the beaten track” from our national vocabulary, we must finally become acquainted with these magnificent unknowns and highlight their treasures for the delight of both Greek and foreign visitors. This is the precise purpose of the “Islands off the Beaten Track…” exhibition, the fruit of the collaboration between the Museum of Cycladic Art and our Ministry. Through this exhibition everyone, Greek or foreign, will have the opportunity to discover the culture of these islands from the prehistoric period to the Byzantine era as well as what is currently taking place there. Because, despite adverse conditions, these islands never ceased to be sources of inspiration and creativity. I wish to thank all those who worked to make this series of exhibitions possible and to express the hope that this marks the beginning of a new relationship between us all and the islands located off the beaten track…. Pavlos Yeroulanos Minister of Culture and Tourism

We embarked on our first journey to the Greek islands Off the Beaten Track driven by admiration and affection for them, their history and their antiquities; a cultural journey through space and time, to the remote islands of the Dodecanese: Kastellorizo, Symi, Halki, Tilos, and Nisyros. This is the first in a series of exhibitions on the smallest Aegean islands whose culture, although great and significant, is unknown to the public at large. We are starting out this cultural journey from the easternmost Aegean islands, which at the same time mark Greece’s borders with Asia. Of the wealth of archaeological finds, only a small part can be accommodated in one exhibition. The 390 selected artefacts now on display in our Museum are representative of these islands’ centuries-long past. Vases and objects of everyday use, jewellery, sculptures and icons, from the Neolithic age to modern times, will open a window allowing the viewer to access their ageless history. The idea was born of our intention of exhibiting the antiquities from these distant islands, but in the end it developed into a wonderful journey through time. Travelling through the islands of the Dodecanese, we met the people who safeguard and manage these ancient treasures, but who – at the same time – face a number of daily problems, such as water shortages, lack of health care services and the difficulty of traveling to the mainland. It was our conviction that this aspect of modern reality should also be shown, so we have included in the exhibition a number of short films that present the life on the islands today. In this first journey to the islands Off the Beaten Track, we encountered many co-travellers. First of all, the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Tourism which embraced the idea as co-organiser of the exhibition. For this we extend our warmest thanks to the Minister, Mr. Pavlos Yeroulanos, and the General Secretary, Dr Lina Mendoni. We would also like to thank the 22nd Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities and the 4th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities of the Dodecanese, and in particular the Directors of these services, Melina FilimonosTsopotou and Maria Michailidou respectively, as well as their entire staff for their valuable assistance and work in gathering the material and writing the Catalogue texts. The films shown at the exhibition were created by Eliana Abravanel, and the photographs of the islands taken by Yannos Kourayos. They both travelled with us in order to gather this material. We thank them very much for their valuable assistance. The exhibition was curated by the Director of the Museum of Cycladic Art, Professor Nicholas Stampolidis who, with Curator Yorgos Tassoulas, undertook to coordinate and organise the exhibition and edit the Catalogue. Through them, we would like to express our thanks to all the Museum of Cycladic Art personnel who have been working hard on this project for many months. But all our efforts, however important, would have been in vain without the substantial assistance of our sponsors who, despite the difficult economic conditions, once again stood by us. We thank the companies Vodafone, Dior and DEPA for sponsoring the exhibition and Aegean Airlines for their permanent support. We thank Blue Star Ferries for their contribution to transporting the artefacts; the hotels Athens Lotus in Athens and Best Western Plaza in Rhodes for their hospitality, the companies Begnis, Papagiannakos, Steficon and Samsung for their support, as well as the media sponsors Mega, SKAÏ, Kathimerini, Athens Voice, City Press and Free Sunday, En Lefko, ελculture.gr, clickatlife.gr and protagon.gr. I am moved and proud because, during these difficult moments for our country, the Museum of Cycladic Art with the help of all its “Friends”, who are its backbone, promotes Greece and Greek culture. Finally, a big “thank you” to our friends and supporters in the shipping industry for their immediate response. Their love of the sea, our islands and their culture is invaluable. Their names are printed on the first pages of the Catalogue, a small honour compared to their affection and support. This catalogue, published exclusively with their contribution, will be a timeless, mobile Museum, a gift of knowledge, and a small specimen of a great civilisation. We hope that every visitor to the exhibition and every reader of the Catalogue will find this journey as exciting as we did, and that they will look forward to travelling with us to other islands Off the Beaten Track in the future, exploring their rich civilization. Sandra Marinopoulos President Nicholas and Dolly Goulandris Foundation Museum of Cycladic Art

In Greece, mountains, lakes, rivers and seas, gods and mortals, all find their origin in myth. When the gods of Olympus battled the Giants, Poseidon broke off a piece of the island of Kos to crush the giant Polybotes. And thus, he created Nisyros, the wealth and fertility of its soil, simultaneously dangerous and alluring, with the giant rumbling evermore, a volcano deep in the bowels of the earth. And between Kos and Nisyros, the rock fragments produced Gyali, where the earliest evidence of Neolithic human existence has been found from a time when obsidian, that volcanic glass, was the pinnacle of technology. Classical Nisyros with its high fortification walls that stand imperiously on the summit of the hill next to the sea, with its wide gates and, inscribed in large letters, the testimony that demonstrates a perpetual breaking of rules, which in its turn reveals the communality of human temperament everywhere in this land: “ΔΑΜΟΣΙΟΝ ΤΟ ΧΩΡΙΟΝ ΠΕΝΤΕ ΠΟΔΕΣ ΑΠΟ ΤΟΥ ΤΕΙΧΕΟΣ”, i.e., the space surrounding the wall is public … and must not be encroached upon. Nisyros’ neighbour to the west, Pergousa – a corruption of the name Pyrgousa, derived from the ancient settlement’s towers (pyrgoi) – which gaze motionless over both ocean and time. And even further to the west, like a glimmering oil lamp (a kandeli) in the calm or storm of the Aegean, Kandelousa, a spot of land in the immensity of blue-maned Poseidon. Further away, southwards, an island, Tilos that appears to have escaped the fate of the sea, with bays that welcome you without wanting to let you depart, which seek to keep you there, since it is the only one of the region’s islands with abundant water and soil for cultivation, mountains with pastures … And castles, high and impregnable, stubbornly built on the same site, with battlements and rooftop chambers, and the church of the Almighty God at the most elevated spot so as to be closest to Him. Built upon and of ancient stones, inscribed with decrees and names as if just yesterday, figures passing and gone, yet still standing invisible and untroubled. The history of Tilos is a palimpsest, like the Byzantine plaster on the ancient stones, the undercoat laid down by the painter’s resolute hand with a line that refuses to fade throughout the passing of the centuries, like Christ Himself in His eternal Glory, with hosts of many-eyed Cherubim below, while six-winged Seraphim surround Him in the arc of the curve of the sanctuary, in the Holy of Holies. On the same island, in the Charkadio Cave, dwarf elephant remains prove that the island was cut off from the Asian landmass by geological phenomena, leaving the huge animals to stagnate, their mass withering until they came completely undone. And if Sappho, that offspring of Lesbos is a famous poet, Tilos too can boast of its own Erinna, who dwelt during the classical period on this incredible island; where even today’s dead are ruled by the past, since ancient altars, columns, and reliefs are scattered among contemporary graves in the cemetery of the church of Ayios Konstantinos. Closer to the territory of Rhodian Kamiros, one finds Halki. On the brow of the hill, the medieval castle built on the ancient fortification with its ashlar walls and open-air sanctuaries of Zeus of the Sky and Hecate of the Dark Moon, with architectural members and inscriptions, and the ruins of Byzantine houses and frescoed churches, stood fast until late in the 19th century, when the town poured forth from the foot of the castle to spread comfortably into the port. Arid land with stone beehive-shaped structures for farmers in the sparse lowlands and thin rock vegetation supporting as much as possible the bee colonies in their hives. Sailing along the coast of abandoned Alimnia, with its Neolithic remains on the hill, hewn shipyards on the shore, and the abandoned barracks from the Italian occupation, the journey continues on to Symi, an island resting in the deep gulf of Doris, opposite the Karian shores, an island group in itself: Sesklio, Kouloundros, Trombeta, Nimos, Plati, Megalonisi, Karavalonisi, Marmaras. On many of these islets, the ancient remains are visible even to this day. With the Genoese castle looming over the town of Chora, built on and next to the ashlar wall, with the port’s two and three-storey neoclassical buildings, it is a sight for sore eyes early in the morning and at twilight, while its past hovers over fragments gathered from various periods and its monuments still await a scholarly interpretation, an identity. Yet, the indestructible foundation of the island is the monastery of the Archangel Michael Panormitis, a monument whose history may have begun with an early Christian basilica, which was active until and during the Greek resistance, with its familiar Dodecanesian cobbled courtyards with Byzantine symbols and the sea’s perpetual swell registered as a zigzagging line, black for the depths, white for the foam. Inside, the walls, painted up to and

including the cross vaults, are adorned with the precious ex-votos and chandeliers of a primordial faith, which in the Dodecanese views this Archangel as the saviour of not only the souls but also of the bodies of those at sea, contrary to the tradition of the rest of the Aegean, which looks to St. Nicholas. And from Symi to the open sea, beyond Rhodes, where the Aegean expands and becomes the Mediterranean, to oblong Rho, just a hair’s breadth away from Kastellorizo, with its peaceful bays, its walls and ancient towers, the island of its Lady, Despoina Achladioti, the holy, yet earthly, protector of its borders. And ultimately, Kastellorizo, the southeastern extremity of the territory of Greece, ancient Megisti, i.e., the largest of the adjacent islands opposite the southern shores of Asia Minor. You will be greeted by the ancient Lycian tomb hewn into the rock that bears the Castello Rosso, with Ai-Giorgis high up in the east and, on the mountaintop, Palaiokastro in the west with its ashlar walls and gates, its series of ancient stones and the hidden carved inscriptions, all overlooking the open sea. The last stop. Something like Seferis’ Cava dei Tirreni, before you take to the seas to encounter the island of Cyprian queen, Aphrodite. The above journey is the first of a series of itineraries resulting from the fruitful collaboration of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism with our Museum. Beginning at the eastmost extremity of the territory of Greece, Kastellorizo, so topical today, it ends at the islands within the embrace formed by Rhodes and Kos. Through the 390 artefacts of every kind and every material, indicatively chosen from prehistoric and classical antiquity until and including the post-Byzantine period, the exhibition “Islands off the Beaten Track …” aims to provide a message regarding the fertility of human presence, life, and activity on these small islands that were once cradles of civilization and that – in the face of the times – continue to resist to this day, when the shipping lanes no longer follow the natural currents of the Mediterranean as they used to, even during the early 20th century. Within the narrow scope of such an introduction, I chose to reject the scholarly approach. After all, this is being applied below by my dear colleagues, many of whom I have been collaborating with in the Dodecanese for dozens of years now. Moreover, regardless of what we archaeologists want to convey, the exhibition has its own dynamic, its own multiple readings, perhaps as many as its visitors, since everyone will view it differently. Therefore, open wide your eyes and enjoy. This will constitute your thanks to all those who created it. I, in turn, would like to once again thank the Ministry of Culture, my colleagues in the 22nd Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities and the Fourth Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities of the Dodecanese, Yorgos Tassoulas, and Stavroula Oikonomou. Nicholas Chr. Stampolidis Professor of Archaeology, University of Crete Director, Museum of Cycladic Art

Preface In 1948, the islands of the Dodecanese became the last pieces of Hellenic land to be united with Greece. Their inhabitants had been living under foreign occupation for centuries: in 1309 with the Knights Hospitallers of the Order of St John, then in 1522 with the Ottomans and, finally in 1912 with the Italians. The citizens of the Dodecanese, which had been left outside the borders of the newly constituted Greek state in 1832, were always proud of the “sacred relics” that linked them to their homeland. The small islands were afflicted in particular by the illegal excavations and illicit trade in antiquities that flourished during the late years of Ottoman rule in the Dodecanese, in contrast with free Greece, where significant legislative measures had been enacted to protect its antiquities. As a result, in those years more than a few artefacts made their way to major museums in Europe and to the Archaeological Museum of Istanbul. A typical instance is related by the Nisyrian Lazaros Kontoveros regarding the discovery on Nisyros in 1897 of the relief stele of the athlete, which was concealed in the precinct of Panayia Potamitissa church; but betrayal of the secret led to the sculpture being loaded on a customs vessel and taken to the capital of the Ottoman Empire. The financial prosperity of Symi, Halki and Megisti in the 19th century, based on spongefishing, boat-building and shipping, brought the well-to-do islanders into contact with Europe, where classical studies were flourishing. In this way, an educated urban class emerged that was interested in the study and preservation of the material remains of the past. Inspired educators devoted themselves to the task of collecting the ancient artefacts that were scattered around the countryside and gathering them together at the School. These little collections constituted the initial core of the later archaeological collections and museums on the small islands. On Kastellorizo in the late 19th and early 20th century, the educator, scholar and author Achilleas Diamandaras took up the task of collecting and studying the monuments and history of his island. Another citizen of Kastellorizo, Michael Komnenos who lived abroad, collected antiquities and objects of the folk culture, donated his collection to the state and thus, in 1966, the first Museum was established on Megisti and housed in an Ottoman mosque. On Symi, in the same period, an emblematic figure was the antiquarian Demosthenes Chaviaras, a significant intellectual, who collected ancient objects and published archaeological studies. Considerable collecting work was done on the same island in the 19th century by the “Aigli” Reading Room, and by the merchant Alexandros Milioratis (regarding the collections on Symi, see the introductory text on the island, below). The first “legal” excavation activity attested on the islands was the investigation conducted on Kastellorizo, at the request of its inhabitants, by the archaeologist Nikolaos Kyparissis, who was sent by the Greek government in 1913, soon after the liberation of the island from Ottoman rule. Kyparissis travelled around the island and excavated ancient graves, from which originated the gold wreath (see Kastellorizo, cat. no. 13) and the Roman sarcophagus, both today in the National Archaeological Museum. The Italian occupation of the islands was followed by the mobilisation of Italian archaeologists in the Dodecanese. On 20 May 1912, i.e. a century ago, Giuseppe Gerola was dispatched to Rhodes to draw up an initial catalogue of the island’s monuments. This famous scholar of the Venetian monuments of Crete spent 80 days travelling through the entire Dodecanese. Thus in 1913, the first catalogue of the monuments of the Dodecanese

was drawn up and published1; while at the same time Gerola wrote an overall study of the medieval monuments of the islands in the two first volumes of the newly issued journal of the Italian Archaeological School2. The only systematic excavation research on Halki and Nisyros, finds from which are included in the present exhibition, was conducted by Giulio Jacopi in 1931-32. In the same period, the Italians established archaeological museums on the two largest islands: Rhodes and Kos. The Archaeological Museum of Rhodes was inaugurated on 1st January 1915 and housed in the large medieval hospital building of the Knights of St John, in which it continues operating to the present day. In fact, it was recently renovated and expanded with new collections, financed by the Third Community Support Framework. For the exhibition of the finds from the extensive excavations on Kos, a new building was erected in 1936, in the centre of town. The restoration of this listed building and the re-exhibition of the antiquities, with the addition of significant new finds, has been included in the National Strategic Reference Framework and is expected to be completed in 2015. After the Dodecanese was incorporated into the Greek state in 1948, the primary concern of the newly constituted Ephorate of Antiquities of the Dodecanese – which was fortunate to have archaeologist Ioannis Kontis as its first Ephor – was the immediate designation of all listed ancient, Byzantine, medieval and modern monuments on Rhodes and the other islands, by decisions of the General Administration of the Dodecanese. An urgent obligation was to repair the damages inflicted on the monuments of the medieval city of Rhodes and its Archaeological Museum by wartime bombing. At the same time the Ephorate had to maintain the archaeological sites open to the public and the famous monuments that had been excavated and, to a large degree, restored by the Italians. The defence of the extensive protected archaeological zones that had been instituted under Italian rule, but also the orientation of archaeological research to specific sectors, were likewise among the top priorities. The flourishing tourism that Rhodes experienced within just a few years, followed by Kos, led to unprecedented construction activity mainly in the islands’ urban centres. Thus began the intensive rescue excavation in the city of Rhodes in the 1960s and in the city of Kos in the following decade. For a long time, the rescue excavations monopolised the activity of the ever understaffed Ephorate of Antiquities, although the scientific results of the systematic archaeological investigation in the city of Rhodes were presented to the public in two permanent exhibitions mounted in 1993 in the Grand Master’s Palace, together with an international Conference, to celebrate the 2400 years since the founding of the city of Rhodes. These exhibitions are “Ancient Rhodes: 2400 years” and “Rhodes from the 4th century AD to its capture by the Turks (1522)”, which are still open to visitors.

1. G. Gerola – G.G. Porro, Elenco degli edifici monumentali, LXXI, Le tredici Sporadi, Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione, Roma 1913. 2. G. Gerola, “I monumenti medievali delle tredici Sporadi”, ASAtene I (1914), 169-356, and II (1916), 1-101.

In the early decades after liberation, construction activity was limited on the small islands participating in the present exhibition, public works were minimal and tourism virtually unknown. The image of the islands at that period was imprinted vividly in the groundbreaking three-volume work Dodecanese, by Athena Tarsouli, who visited the Dodecanese during the early years after their union with Greece. The monuments on the islands were safe, thanks to the patriotism of the islanders and the care of the Temporary Curator of Antiquities, who was usually the only school teacher serving on the island, and who had shouldered without remuneration the task of protecting the antiquities. On Symi they were Nikitas Chaviaras, son of Demosthenes, Georgios Moschovis and Konstantinos Farmakidis; on Tilos Apostolos Logothetis; on Nisyros Makis Katsimatidis and Nikitas Mastrogiannis. A characteristic report was sent by Katsimatidis on 20-3-1953 to the Ephor of Antiquities Ioannis Kontis, in which the former expressed his concern about the antiquities in the countryside and concluded: “I watch vigilantly and give instructions, such as that the ancient objects scattered in the fields must not be touched. I explain their value and even the heavy penalty provided for violators” (fig. 1). Halki was not fortunate enough to have a Temporary Curator, despite the effort by the then Curator G. Konstantinopoulos to have this task assigned to the island’s sole public employee, the postman – because Halki did not have a permanent primary school teacher – but the postman refused owing to his workload (fig. 2). These Temporary Curators, people with education and interest, saw to the gathering up of scattered ancient objects, which was how the early public archaeological collections came into being on the islands. At the same time, curators were sent by the Dodecanese Ephorate of Antiquities with instructions to travel round the islands, to keep systematic records of the visible monuments and antiquities in travel diaries, and to carry out the first necessary rescue excavations. Reference will be made here to just a few of these capable archaeologists: Seraphim Haritonidis, Georgios Dontas, Pavlos Lazaridis, Myrtali Acheimastou, Grigorios Konstantinopoulos, Ioannis Papapostolou, Eos Zervoudaki, Christos Doumas, Ilias Kollias, and Ioannis Papachristodoulou. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Ministry of Culture had the foresight to provide permanent guards for the antiquities on the small islands. On Kastellorizo there was Ilias Diakakis, on Symi Vassilis Hatzistratis and Kokkimidis Patatoukos, on Halki Petros Antonoglou, on Tilos Pantelis Giannourakis and on Nisyros Georgios Hartofylis and then Nikolaos Haritos. With minimal means, but with abundant feelings of love and honour, these guards, together with local antiquity-lovers (I mention only Dinos Papadelias on Nisyros), continued the task of saving and collecting the antiquities in the countryside. In 1980, a programme was initiated to establish archaeological museums on the islands with the collaboration of two Ephorates of antiquities. First the Museum of Megisti was inaugurated on 13 September 1984, the anniversary of the liberation of Kastellorizo. This was followed by the museums of Symi, Leros, Astypalaia and, more recently, that

of Kasos. The museums of Karpathos, Kalymnos and Nisyros were set up during the five-year period between 2003 and 2008, with funding from the South Aegean Regional Operational Programme. Almost all these museums are housed in buildings that have been ceded to the Ministry of Culture by public agencies, foundations or private citizens; their exhibitions are timeless in nature, i.e. they cover the course of the human presence on the islands from the Prehistoric up to and including the Byzantine era, and even up to the 20th century. The basic core of the exhibits comprises objects from the old collections, enriched by excavation finds that were temporarily kept on Rhodes and then returned to their homeland. The rescue excavations conducted in the last two decades on the small islands have enriched the museums with new finds. Meanwhile, their tourist trade is developing, infrastructure is required for inhabitants and tourists alike, funding programmes are being claimed and more summer homes are being built. The recent designations of archaeological sites and protected zones on all the islands have imposed archaeological control legislatively. The creation of new museums was regarded as a challenge by many inhabitants, who handed over antiquities that they had been stubbornly keeping at home until the museums opened. Today, Tilos and Halki alone do not have an archaeological museum. There are, however, programmes, studies, and significant finds displayed in this exhibition, but above all the passion of the archaeologists in the Ephorates, who every day extend the activities and task of protecting the antiquities on every little island and every barren rock â&#x20AC;&#x201C; these solid, once vital, stepping stones of communication between the island communities of the Aegean and the vast mainland on the opposite shore. The inspired idea to hold this Exhibition was conceived by the dear colleague and friend, Professor Nicholas Stampolidis, Director of the Museum of Cycladic and Ancient Greek Art. The Exhibition has been made possible by the full support and ministrations of the Museum President, Mrs Sandra Marinopoulos. The Exhibition and the present Catalogue owe a great deal to the systematic work of the Museum curator and staunch collaborator, archaeologist Yorgos Tassoulas. The conservation of all the objects in the exhibition was done by the conservators of the 22nd EPCA Michalis Kostas, Dimitris Kouyios and Nectaria Dasakli. Most of the photographs of the antiquities in the Catalogue were taken by our photographer Yorgos Kassiotis. The archaeologists of the Ephorates of Antiquities in the Dodecanese who are responsible for the islands included in this Exhibition, together with their other professional duties, bore the main burden of selecting and studying the exhibits â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a large number of which were unpublished â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and of writing the Catalogue entries. It is particularly important for unpretentious and valuable artefacts to come to the capital of Greece, as they have been witnesses to the long human activity and rich cultural path followed by these small frontier islands of the Archipelago, which extend the borders of our country and persist in living and producing, even with their few remaining inhabitants. Dr Melina Filimonos-Tsopotou Director of the 22nd EPCA

Yali

Symi Nisyros

Pyrgousa

Tilos

Alimnia

Halki Rhodes

Rho

Kastellorizo Strongyli

Rho

Kastellorizo Strongyli

egisti â&#x20AC;&#x201C; or Kastellorizo, from the name of its medieval settlement â&#x20AC;&#x201C; is the

largest of a total of approximately thirty islets, rocky islets, and reefs, which constitutes the archipelago of Kastellorizo (fig. 1). Its economy and its importance is directly associated Fig. 1: Partial view of Kastellorizo, the barren islets, and the Lycian coast (MCA photo archive).

with them, as well as with the opposite Lycian coast. Megisti is located 131 km (71 nautical miles) east of Rhodes and 2.5 km from the opposite coast of Asia Minor. It has an area of 8.88 sq. km and is roughly triangular, with the large Mounda peninsula on the northern side, which ends at the cape of Ayios Stephanos. The entire coastline is precipitous everywhere except for the deep bay on the NE side of the island that forms a double port. The island is mountainous and rocky. The higher peaks Vigla (268 m), Paleokastro (244 m), and Diskos (215 m) are located on the northern side. The centre, east, and south feature small plateaus with small plots of arable land. Although arid, the island was probably settled since the Late Bronze Age due to its position and the exceptional double port on its NE coast. Over the years, Kavos, the cape separating the cove into two ports was the centre of all activity; Kastro, the old castle still survives there. After the port, Paleokastro, which had successive habitation phases, was the most important location. Other locations have also been found, primarily in cultivable areas, mostly small fortified farmhouses with oil and wine presses.

Scholarly interest in Megisti began in the 18th and continued into the 19th century. During this period, European travellers wandered over the island searching for antiquities and inscriptions1. It is obvious that during that same century antiquities trafficking was also taking place on the island2. Particular care should be taken when attempting to interpret the provenance of finds that do not come from excavations. At various times, some of the inscriptions and other finds documented on the island are reported to have been transported from the opposite coast of Asia Minor3. No systematic archaeological survey of the island has taken place. Thus far, the survey has been limited to surface investigations4 and some recent rescue excavations5. The name Megisti or Megista – encountered in all ancient sources, from Pseudo-Skylax in the mid-4th cent. BC until the 12th cent. AD6 – refers to the size of the island relative to the smaller islets and barren islets in its island complex7. The name of the island during antiquity is confirmed, on the one hand, by epigraphic references to Apollo Megisteus, and, on the other hand, by its survival as Mayas in Arabic and Meis in Turkish, both corruptions of the name Megisti. The name Kastellorizo, which was adopted after the 12th century and is now used interchangeably with the ancient name Megisti, is attributed either to the red colour of the rock used to construct the castle in the cove (castello rosso) or to the settlement that developed at the foot (Gr. riza) of the castle8.

From the Stone Age to the Bronze Age There is very little evidence of habitation during the prehistoric era. The site of the present-day cemetery on the small peninsula that encloses the port of Mandraki from the east may have been the location of a prehistoric settlement9. However, the favourable location of the island on the sea route followed by Bronze Age

1. See Savary 1788; Leake 1824; Fellows 1841; Ross 1846; Flandin 1871; Cockerell 1903. There are also references to repeated incursions by antiquities traffickers, who would disgorge crews to empty out individual graves; see Kyparissis 1915, 64. 2. Fellows (1841, 188-189) describes 1840 Kastellorizo as a vibrant commercial centre where one could acquire coins and all sorts of “treasures” found by the villagers on the opposite shore. He himself purchased coins that came from the Xanthos valley. 3. See Diamandaras 1894, 331-333, no. 33; Diamandaras 1899, 335-336. Correspondingly, the monolithic columns in the church of Ayios Konstantinos were transported from Patara, Lycia; see Diamandaras n.d., 8. 4. In 1967, R. Hope Simpson and J. F. Lazenby undertook a limited survey of already known sites (Hope Simpson – Lazenby 1970). Ν. Ashton contributed greatly to the study of ancient Megisti through his extensive surface investigation of the island in 1993 and 1994, amassing much of the information referenced here; see Ashton 1995. 5. In 1999 the entire island, as well as the islet of Rho, was registered as an archaeological site. Since then all digging work is monitored by the Archaeological Service and, in some cases, trial trenches are dug before any building approval is granted. 6. The conclusion that one of Megisti’s names in antiquity was Kisthini is due to a misinterpretation of an extract from Strabo (XIV, 3,7) “In the intervening distance on the coasting voyage there are numerous isles and harbors, among which are the island Megiste, with a city of the same name, and Cisthene”; see Thomopoulos 1970. 7. “The great island of Lycia” according to Stephanus Byzantinus. The first to etymologically link the name of the island with the mythical founder Megisteus was Alexandros Polyistor in the 1st cent. BC, whom Stephanus Byzantinus (De urbibus) repeats in the 6th cent. AD. See also RE XV.1, s.v. Megiste, 331. 8. Pappas 1994, 46-47; Hederer 1924, 32. 9. Hope Simpson – Lazenby 1970, 75, mention two prehistoric shards in the area of the cemetery.

ships is confirmed by the shipwrecks discovered at Ulu Burun – 9 km. SE of ancient Antiphellos, present-day Kas, opposite Megisti – dating to the end of the 14th cent. BC and at cape Gelidonya, 65 km further east, which date to the 12th cent. BC. Despite the lack of evidence, we should not rule out the possibility that Megisti was used as a way station on the route of sailors and merchants to and from the Eastern ports and of migrants to Cyprus, Cilicia, and the Syrian-Palestinian coast during the 12th and 11th cent. BC migrations.

From The Geometric Period to Late Antiquity The evidence regarding habitation during the Geometric and Archaic periods remains scarce: pottery fragments from the Geometric period gathered inside the Paleokastro acropolis are evidence of habitation at that strategic position. The close relationship of Megisti and Rhodes may date to the colonization period. The foundation of Phasilis, a Rhodian colony on the Lycian coast, dates to the 7th cent. BC, while the Chronicle of Lindos refers to a victorious campaign of the tyrant of Lindos, Cleoboulos, against Lycia, which should be dated in the 6th cent. BC. The names of certain Lycian cities, such as Rhodia and Rhodiapolis, may constitute proof of a broader colonization of SE Lycia by the Doric cities of Rhodes. This, however, had no permanent results other than the conquest of Megisti, since these cities are later referred to as members of the Lycian Confederation10. In 411 BC, Rhodes defected from the Delian or First Athenian League and in 408/7 BC established – by consolidating three cities – the new city of Rhodes, which quickly developed into an important naval and commercial power. It was not, however, able to avoid the domination of the Hekatomnid satrap dynasty of Halicarnassos (356 - 332 BC)11, or the obligation to provide troops for the forces of Darius III (340 - 335 BC). During 332 - 323 BC, Macedonian forces had the upper hand in the region12, while after the death of Alexander, the kingdoms of the Successors began struggling for military and economic supremacy in the Eastern Mediterranean. Rhodes repelled the siege of Demetrios (305 - 304 BC), strengthened its navy, both military and merchant, and developed into the main transit trade hub of the Eastern Mediterranean during the 3rd and early 2nd cent. BC. The Rhodian state gradually annexed many of the islands of the Dodecanese. These were added to the extensive lands the Rhodian cities owned prior to their consolidation on the opposite coast of Asia Minor. Known as “incorporated” Rhodian Peraia they included part of Karia and certain coastal locations of Lycia, as well as the island of Megisti. It is certain that Megisti was incorporated into the Rhodian state before the mid-4th cent. BC and remained part of it until at least the 1st cent. AD13: This is confirmed by a reference by Pseudo-Skylax, 99 (GGM I, 73 “… opposite these places is an island of the Rhodians …”),

10. Bresson 1999, 102; Blinkenberg 1941, no. 2, 170, XXIII. 11. The Hekatomnids proceeded to construct an extensive network of fortifications under their control; see the Nisyros introduction in the current volume. 12. For information on the Rhodian state during the period of Alexander the Great, see Hauben 1977 and Berthold 1984, 33-37. 13. Fraser – Bean 1954, 57; Berthold 1984, 41.

which dates to the mid-4th cent. BC14, as well as by Strabo (XIV, 3, 7). The administration of “incorporated” Rhodian Peraia did not differ from that of Rhodes15. It constituted an integral part of the Rhodian state and participated in the demos system. Megisti, as well as the area of Daidala, remote conquests of the Rhodian state, were not independent demoi but probably belonged to some unidentified demos of Rhodes. This is confirmed by the fact that on the inscriptions of Megisti, the names of Rhodian officials are sometimes accompanied by their demotic, but never with the national Ῥόδιος (Rhodian), a practice encountered in the territories of “incorporated” Peraia. The demotic Megisteus appears only as an epithet of Apollo and possibly Zeus16. Coins from the 4th cent. BC, which bear on the obverse the head of Helios and on the reverse the Rhodian rose with the letters “ΜΕ” are attributed to Megisti (cat. nos. 11-12); this interpretation, however, is a subject of disagreement among experts and is disputed17. Military authority in the incorporated and subjugated Rhodian Peraia was exercised by one of ten stratagoi (commanders), the στραταγός ἐπὶ τό πέραν, (commander in the Peraia) with at least three subordinate hagemones (captains) – there is specific reference to the captains of Karia, of Lycia, and of Kaunos. Subordinate to the hagemones were the epistatai, the Rhodian military heads of the mercenary guards, who served for one-year terms at various locations strategically important to the Rhodian state. Megisti was one of those locations, as confirmed by epigraphic evidence: four votive inscriptions by epistatai were found in the Paleokastro acropolis and one is carved on the rock under Kastro, the port’s ancient tower18. They date to the 2nd cent. BC19. Megisti’s crucial importance to the Rhodian state during the 2nd cent. BC is demonstrated on the inscribed base of a votive statue found at Kedreai, Karia that refers to Teisias son of Theudamos, … καὶ ἁγεμόνα γενόμενον ἐμ Mεγίστᾳ κατὰ πόλεμον…20. The base is signed by the sculptor Pythokritos, who worked on Rhodes around 170 BC. It appears that in this specific case, this particular official was an emergency appointment to the rank of hagemon of Megisti, dictated by the gravity of the events of the Third Syrian War (190 BC) when Megisti played a key role21 in the operations against Antiochos III. The most detailed surviving reference to Megisti in the ancient texts deals with the events of that war: Livy (Ab Urbe Condita, 37.22.5, 37.24.12, 37.45.2) mentioned Megisti three times in his narrative of the 190 BC military operations. The text underlines the strategic location of Megisti, as well as how

14. And at least before 330 BC; see Bresson 104, n. 51 15. On the administration of the Rhodian state, see Fraser – Bean 1954, 79-94; Berthold 1984, 38 ff.; van Gelder 1900. 16. SGDI 4331 and 4333. 17. See Head 1897, xcviii-xcix. H. A. Cahn (1942, 92-94) pointed out that the coins are heavier than those of the established Rhodian system and it was unlikely that they were a short-term Rhodian issue. He argued that they were issued by an individual Rhodian demos. Fraser and Bean (1954, 97 n. 4, 98) think that if it were a Rhodian issue, it could be interpreted as indicating the island’s autonomy or its incorporation into the Rhodian state; They pointed out that the letters “ΜΕ” may not represent a toponym, but rather the names of officials. R. H. J. Ashton (1990, 1-3) suggested they were issued by commander Memnon, who was of Rhodian descent and who fought against Alexander, hence not coins of Megisti at all. For a summary, see Stefanaki 2010, 417-419. 18. Additional detailed information regarding the Kastro and the Paleokastro acropolis follows. 19. Fraser – Bean 1954, 87. 20. SEG IV, 178; Fraser – Bean 1954, 85. 21. Regarding the events of the Syrian war, see Berthold 1984.

its port was an important naval station for the Rhodian state’s fleet. The above-referenced excerpts demonstrate that Megisti played an important strategic role, especially since the rest of Lycia, with the exception of Phasilis, was hostile to Rhodes. The Treaty of Apamea (188 BC) subsequently imposed by the Roman Senate on the Greeks of Asia Minor, favoured Rhodes exceedingly. During the immediately following period up to the 164 BC treaty with Rome, which resulted in Rhodes’ essential submission, the Rhodian state expanded into the greater part of Karia and Lycia. These areas constituted what is known as “subjugated Peraia”. Lycia resisted Rhodian occupation and a series of military battles, known as the Lycian Wars ensued22. During this period (188 - 167 BC), Megisti continued to operate as the base for the naval operations of the Rhodian fleet. The permanent Rhodian presence on Megisti explains the Rhodian influence over central Lycia during the Hellenistic period, something supported epigraphically23. Judging from the lack of similar monuments on the island, there was no such corresponding Lycian influence on Megisti. Even in the period the Lycian League was revived during the Roman Imperial period24, Megisti was apparently untouched by Lycian influence, despite its proximity to the Lycian coast. Inevitably, the political power of Rhodes declined as the influence of Rome rose. After signing the treaty with Rome in 164 BC, although officially independent, Rhodes followed the directives of the Roman state. The tax-free port Rome established on Delos contributed to the island’s economic contraction. In the late 1st cent. BC, Anthony and Augustus returned some of the island conquests of Rhodes, while Augustus reaffirmed its earlier title of “free and allied city”. In the 1st cent. AD, Strabo (ΧΙV, 3, 7) once again referred to Megisti as a Rhodian possession. Apart from Strabo, two other 1st and 2nd cent. AD sources mention Megisti: Ptolemy (Geogr. V, III) and Pliny (Natural History, V. 35.131); the latter claimed that the city of Megisti no longer existed (… Megista, cuius civitas interdiit.). However, according to archaeological evidence, the island was inhabited during the 1st cent. AD, in which case Pliny’s statement probably meant that the population had shrunk or that its strategic importance had declined, or that by then it was a vassal state. Under Emperor Vespasian (67 - 69 AD), Rhodes was officially incorporated into the Roman state, while Diocletian (284 - 305 AD) designated it the capital of the Province of the Islands, which belonged to the Administration of Asia. During the Imperial period, Megisti continued to be used as a naval station, as evidenced by the repairs on the walls of the acropolis, surface finds on the island, and primarily, the port installations. The submerged jetties located on the tongue separating the two ports and around Psoradia, the small island facing it, date to the Roman period, as does the pottery from shipwrecks at these locations25. The port of Megisti still continued to operate

22. Bresson 1999, 106-111; Polybios, 25.4.4. 23. Regarding epigraphical data that demonstrates Rhodian influence in Lycia, the adoption of Rhodian practices, the votive inscriptions that honour Rhodians, the cults of Zeus Attabyrios and of Helios, see Zimmermann 1992, 81, 156-158; Zimmermann 1993, 119-121; Bresson 1999,104-106. 24. See Livy, 41.25.8, 42.14.8, 44.15.1. Also, see Polybios, 30.5.12, 30.31.4-5, 31.4.1–3. 25. See Pirazzoli 1987.

as a commercial port, while also serving as a naval station of the Roman navy – probably as an auxiliary to the naval station at Patara, Lycia. Undoubtedly, the importance of the island had waned in a Mediterranean that constituted a “Roman lake”. The island’s history reflects its important geographical position and the economic and strategic significance of the entire region. Its prominent position as an important possession of Rhodes was followed by centuries of obscurity during which it practically vanished from the sources. There are large periods that are characterized by the complete absence of monuments and data. So far, evidence reveals the island flourished as a naval base primarily during periods when some central authority needed organized control over the sea passages.

The Ancient Monuments The Port and the Castle The cove west of Kavos, horseshoe-shaped, deep and well-protected from the elements, was the main port, while the smaller and shallower eastern port at Mandraki26, probable Fig. 2: Kavos: the Castle and the “Lycian Tomb” (MCA photo archive).

functioned as a ship repair station in antiquity, just as in the 19th century. However, the primary role of the double port of Megisti was to provision the war and commercial ships and probably, also participate in regional trade. In antiquity, the port of Megisti was already protected by an ancient fortification, on the site of the castle of the Knights (figs. 2, 3). The pyramidal base of the surviving tower (fig. 3) dates to the second half of the 4th cent. BC27, as revealed by the carved band on both faces of the sloping edge of the cornerstones, known as the orthogonal corner guide. Obviously, the unusual - for the site - construction served to give additional height to the rectangular tower, which dominated the two ports and controlled the maritime expanse of the channel with its scattered islands. The votive inscription of the Rhodian military commander Sosikles, son of Nikagoras, to Hermes Propylaios (fig. 4), dating to the 2nd cent. BC is carved on the rock that serves as the foundation for the tower of the Kastro (castle): Σωσικλῆς Nικαγόρα /Ἂμιος ἐπιστατήσας /

Fig. 3: Kastro (the Castle): the pyramidal base of the tower from the SE. (22nd EPCA photo archive).

ἒν τε Kαστάβῳ καὶ ἐπὶ /τοῦ πύργου τοῦ ἐν Mε /γίστᾳ Ἑρμᾷ Προπυ /λαίῳ χαριστήριον28. The votive inscription of the epistates Sosikles definitely postdates the construction of the tower, and is accompanied by mortises to support a votive offering, possibly a Herm. The entire north side of the tower has collapsed, along with the foundation rock, possibly because of an earthquake or after one of the many bombardments the monument suffered in modern times. The north wall of the tower, built right on the edge of the cliff, is vertical and obviously latter-day.

Fig. 4: The votive inscription of the Rhodian military commander Sosikles (MCA photo archive).

26. In antiquity, the level of the sea was considerably lower; see Pirazzoli 1987. 27. A similar construction is also located in the Argolis region. The pyramidal base of a rectangular tower on a rectangular platform is at Kefalari Ellinikou at Argos (Pikoulas 1996-97; Lord 1938; Scranton 1938). Based on the finds, it dates to the second half of the 4th cent. BC, and functioned as an outpost to control the Argos-Kenchreai road. See Pikoulas 1995. 28. SGDI, 4332.

Paleokastro It is the best preserved fortified position of ancient Megisti in the island interior and possibly the most strategic spot (fig. 5). The acropolis was probably constructed before the late 4th cent. BC on an earlier pre-classical acropolis, while there is evidence of continuous habitation until the Byzantine period29. It controlled the port and the bay of Limenari to the west. Above all, it was a focal point, commanding the sea routes through a network of beacon towers installed at various points of the island, on the neighbouring islets of Strongyli and Rho, as well as on the opposite Lycian coast. The Paleokastro acropolis covers an Fig. 5: The Paleokastro acropolis from the SE. Rho is in the distance (22nd EPCA photo archive).

area of approximately 6,000 sq. m. and consists of the outer wall with – originally – four towers on the SE most accessible side as well as an interior tower. In the southmost tower one of the ancient entrances survives, although it has undergone latter-day interventions. Embedded in the wall in second use are the votive inscriptions of two epistatai30. The fourth tower, now destroyed, on the eastern corner of the outer wall, at a point dominating the settlement and the port may have been where the inscription of the epistates Kratidamos was discovered; he built a gate and commissioned the statues of Apollo Pylaios and Artemis Soteira31. The inscription, which may date to the 3rd or 2nd cent. BC32, states that another gate stood at this point. A fourth inscription – this time dedicated jointly by two epistates – should be associated with the Paleokastro acropolis33. The interior tower, which survives to a height of approximately 4 m. is the best preserved part of the fortification (fig. 6). According to isodomic masonry, it is constructed of

29. Hope Simpson – Lazenby 1970, 73-74, fig. 7; Wurster 1981, 226-231, pls. 74-75, fig. 8. In 1943, the German occupation forces installed their anti-aircraft defences at the top of the hill, as evidenced by the two machine guns, as well as the abundant rubble created by the Allies’ bombardment of the monument. See Ashton 1995. 30. Ἐπικρατίδας / Ἀναξικράτευς / ἐπιστατήσας/ καὶ τοὶ / συστρατευσάμενοι /[Δ]ιοσκόροις (SGDI, 4331 and Diamandaras 1892, 304) and [B]ασίλων / Ἐξα[κ]-/ εστίωνος / Λέλιος ἐπιστα-/ τήσας (Diamandaras 1892, 305). 31. Susini 1955; Michelier 1917. Although Michelier states that Kratidamos’ inscription was found at the SE corner of the acropolis, it is not exactly clear where that corner is. It may be the now destroyed fourth tower of the SE side of the acropolis. The existence of this particular inscription indicates that a second tower existed on that spot. The inscription is now in the Archaeological Museum of Mytilene (inv. no. 40), along with a series of other votive or funerary inscriptions that date from the Hellenistic to the Late Imperial period (inv. no. 13, 18, 25, 28, 40, 41, 42), as well as some inscriptions transferred to Megisti from Patara and Gages. The original destination of these inscriptions was the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. They were dispatched by the revolutionary Greek authorities of the island who were calling for unification with Greece during the brief period 1913-1915. 32. According to Susini 1955, not a single inscription coming from Megisti can be accurately dated. 33. Ἐπιστάται / Aἰσχίνας /Διάνδρου /Tιμόστρατος /Eὐκράτευς /Ἀπόλλωνι /Mεγιστεῖ. According to Ludwig Ross, the inscription (SGDI, 4330) was embedded in the wall of the sanctuary of the Monastery of Ayios Panteleimon. Diamandaras (1899, 333) published a sixth epistates inscription without reporting where it was found.

Fig. 6: Paleokastro. The interior tower from the SE. (MCA photo archive).

Fig. 7: Carved cistern in Paleokastro (MCA photo archive).

humped blocks, with a cut orthogonal guide along the corner edge. Pieces dating to the Hellenistic period survive in places in the lower blocks of the outer wall34. Two large carved oval cisterns with hewn access steps, one in the inner and the second in the outer precinct, secured a long-lasting supply of water (fig. 7). The larger one had a diameter of approximately 5.30 m. and a depth of 4 m. These cisterns, which acquired vaulted roofs in the modern era, must have been located underground in the towers during antiquity. Small niches carved into the face of the rock on the south side of the inner elevated section of the acropolis indicate a sanctuary was on that site.

Vigla An ancient fortification wall, 60 m. long extending east to west, survives on Vigla – the highest point of the island that towers above the settlement from a height of 220 m. Its polygonal masonry was called “Cyclopean” and, in the past, the wall was thought to be Mycenaean35. Nevertheless, this type of masonry was quite common in Karia from the Classical until the Roman period and may have been part of the Hellenistic fortification36. In conjunction with Paleokastro, it served to protect the island’s interior.

34. The blocks of the southwestern corner of the outer wall are dislodged; as a result that part of the wall is in danger of collapsing. After a topographic mapping by E. Vassiliadou, the 22nd EPCA undertook the project of restoring the southwestern corner in the context of the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) based on studies by G. Antoniou, K. Zambas, and E. Pavlidis. 35. Kyparissis 1915. 36. Hope Simpson – Lazenby 1970, 75; Wurster 1981, 231-232.

Apart from the Paleokastro acropolis and the coastal forts of Kastro and those on the islets of Rho and Strongyli (see below p. 44 - 46)37, Megisti’s defence network was supplemented, on the opposite mainland coast as well, by other individual small “acropoleis” (in the island interior like Landomeno, or Ypsila, on the Miriklis farm38 on the SE side of the island) and by beacon towers (like the small pyramidal-based tower at Kastrelli on the Mounda peninsula, and the beacon tower at Karydia on the edge of the steep eastern shore). A walled coastal urban centre does not appear to have existed in antiquity, while the port settlement was probably limited in scope, serving the provisioning and repair needs of the ships. The main fortification network of the Megisti complex was constructed based on a central defensive plan devised by the Rhodian state in the second half of the 4th cent. BC, possibly in the period after the death of Alexander the Great. A more precise date for its construction does not exist, while one should not exclude the possibility that it incorporated pre-existing buildings and that additional construction and modifications took place during the 3rd and 2nd cent. BC. The fortifications were part of a larger design whose long-term goal was unhindered navigation and the provisioning of the military and commercial fleet by-passing the ports of Lycia, whose relations with the Rhodian state were always tense39.

Fortified Farmhouses Apart from the above fortresses, Kastellorizo has a large number of individual fortified buildings, which could be interpreted to be rural towers or fortified farmhouses40. The majority of these rural dwellings are isolated and self-sufficient, with the exception of the installations at Aulonia, which might have belonged to a small settlement or large village with tower houses. Similar towers were built during the 4th and 3rd cent. BC in many regions, especially on the islands41. Sometimes they were associated with the need to protect some particular production site42, usually, however, they were agricultural installations that simultaneously served a broader defensive planning. They may have been privately owned; some may also have been granted to the garrison and their families to use and manage, in exchange for operating as observation/beacon towers43. An equally large number of similarly constructed fortified farmhouses from the Hellenistic

37. In her study of Hellenistic fortifications in incorporated Rhodian Peraia, I. Pimouguet (1994) determined three types of defensive installations: hill-top fortified acropoleis, fortified coastal urban centres, and coastal fortresses and towers build on peninsulas or at the mouth of bays. Each one of these installation types had its own particular operational function, but their organization demonstrated the existence of a central plan of defence, which directly served the interests of the Rhodian state. This explains the relative homogeneity that characterizes all the installation types, as regards their operational elements and the way they were built, characteristics that I. Pimouguet considered indicative of a “mainland Rhodian architecture”. 38. Ashton 1995, 80. 39. Bresson 1999; Bryce – Zahle 1986. 40. Ashton (1995, 68-91, especially 69) noted around forty-five fortified positions; most were associated with presses and cisterns. 41. See Marangou 2005, 323-326; Young 1956a; Osborne 1986. 42. See, for example, the Siphnos silver mines (Young 1956b and Ashton – Pantazoglou 1991). 43. Regarding the ownership of individual fortresses, i.e., whether they were private or public buildings, see Marangou 2009, 21.

period are found in Lycia44. Some structures, considered graves in the past45, should perhaps be construed to be the basements of towers, which served either as storage facilities or water cisterns, like the structure currently known as the “grave with the golden wreath” on the plateau of Ayios Georgios tou Vounou46 and the underground crypt of Ayios Charalambos at the monastery of Ayios Georgios tou Vounou. Another fortified installation that might have served as a farmhouse is surrounded by a strong wall and located on the Sarina farm, at Acheres, west of the port, on the only easily accessed and arable area of the island47. Apart from a covered cistern, the site also has sufficient arable land.

Water Management Megisti is a dry island. Sweet water (brackish to be precise) wells are found only in the area around the centre of the port, the site of the church of Ayios Georgios tou Pigadiou. During efforts to construct a reservoir at Kiolia, in the centre of the island, SW of the airport, two round structures were discovered; located inside a securely walled structure, with a respective diameter of 5 and 6 m., they are thought to have been cisterns. Although their construction dates to the Hellenistic period, they continued to be used during the Roman period, according to the pottery found during the excavation48. It should also be noted that the old name of the site was Phletra, which derives from phreatera, i.e., cisterns or tanks49. It was probably during the Hellenistic period that an installation of nine large round cisterns was constructed at Acheres, above the settlement of Kastellorizo; this is usually thought to have been constructed during the Ottoman Occupation. However, an infrastructure project on such a scale testifies to the type of central planning that is only known to have existed on the island during the Hellenistic period. This group of cisterns at Acheres must have been sufficient to meet not only the needs of the settlement and the port facilities, but also to provision the Rhodian navy and the commercial ships that transported, grain, amphorae containing wine, and other products traded by the Rhodian state, as well as Lycian timber50. At the same time, cisterns, carved or built, small and large, exist at all the ancient habitation sites on the island, from the Paleokastro acropolis and the Kastro (castle) at the port, to the scattered all over the countryside fortified rural homesteads, while natural fissures were also used as catchments to collect rainwater.

44. These are tower-shaped buildings with no other ground level access other than the door with windows on the upper storey. They have carefully laid masonry and are always combined with auxiliary buildings, presses and threshing floors. Underground chambers are a typical characteristic detail. See Konecny 1994 and Konecny 1997. 45. Ashton 1995, 100-102. 46. Actually, the wreath (cat. no. 13) was found in a stone container wedged into the earth; see Kyparissis 1915, 63. 47. See Ashton 1995, 90. 48. See K. Bairami in ΑΔ 2000, Χρον., (forthcoming). 49. Diamandaras n.d., 13. 50. Until recently, the cistern complex at Acheres along with some round hewn cisterns, known as Pasades, inside the settlement met the needs of the residents of the Kastellorizo settlement.

The Presses Scattered all over the island are simple hewn structures used to crush grapes51. Some are located close to farmhouses, along with other facilities, cisterns, etc., but most stand alone on inaccessible slopes. The surface pottery around them, primarily amphora and pithos fragments date from the 6th cent. BC to the Late Roman period. Most of these structures consist of one or more round crushing surfaces with a usual diameter of 75-80 cm. and a shallow peripheral channel carved onto the flat rock surface leading to a natural cavity that functioned as a collection tank (fig. 8). In about half these cases, there is a secondary round basin. The diameter of the crushing surface, which coincides with the diameter of the grape-harvesting baskets, reveals that the grapes were pressed on site at the production area, inside the baskets themselves, which were placed on the round surface, a practice portrayed in black-figure vase painting. The existence of a secondary Fig. 8: Group of presses at the Papalazarou farm (22nd EPCA photo archive).

basin has been associated with the production of the pramneios wine, or prodromos or protropos wine, which was not pressed and was famous in antiquity for its strengthening qualities (Athenaeus, Deipnosophists Ι, 30b)52. The existence of a large number of this type of winepress, scattered all over inaccessible Kastellorizo, is proof that during certain periods, barren small islands were intensively cultivated53. A second type of press, where the round crushing surfaces are inserted in rectangular spaces carved into the rock and are combined with sockets carved into the vertical walls to accommodate a system of levers, should be interpreted as oil-presses or as presses that were used to crush both types of fruit54. Anyhow, it is quite clear that the raw material was processed on the production site, evidently due to the inaccessible terrain that hampered the transportation of products. An additional, but in no way trivial - for an arid island - use for the presses was to collect rainwater in their hewn cavities.

The Graves The characteristic dispersal of graves on the island and the lack of organized cemeteries, may indicate that it had no central settlement during antiquity55. A relative concentration of graves, mainly in the form of carved containers, exists in only two locations. One is found east and north of the Kastro, on the peninsula that separates the two ports, where Fig. 9: Limenari: Hewn sarcophagus-shaped shaft grave (22nd EPCA photo archive).

human activity would be constantly focused. This relative density may not be due to the existence of an actual settlement but rather to the port itself. The second is found

51. In 1993-1994, N. G. Ashton documented forty-seven presses and noted that their total number must have been even higher; see Ashton 1995, 45-67, especially 46. 52. Ashton 2002. 53. Similar presses, hewn into the rock are also found on the island of Gaudos: see Christodoulakos – Moschovi – Kopaka – Drosinou 2000. 54. Apparently it is impossible to assign these structures to exclusively one or the other type of production. Already in antiquity, similar bases were in some places associated with olive oil, in others with wine; see Bruneau – Fraise 1984. On Megisti, structures that combine the function of wine and olive press are found in the Papalazarou field at Mounda, where there is also a stone basin for crushing olives, a trapetum (see Ashton 1995, 65), as well as at other locations. 55. For a more detailed account of the graves scattered over the island, see Ashton 1995, 92-112, especially 93.

around Ayios Georgios tou Vounou, where the existence of some twenty looted graves is mentioned by N. Kyparissis, at the site where the gold wreath (cat. no. 13) was found “inside a stone container, stuck into the rocky ground”56. On the rest of the island, we find either individual graves or small clusters, usually in conjunction with fortified rural positions. Most graves are rectangular shaft graves hewn into the rock57. They are frequently sarcophagus shaped, the upper part of their hewn walls protruding (fig. 9), while they were sealed with monolithic covers, either flat or slanted on both sides. While tile-lined shaft graves are much rarer58, the deceased was frequently laid in sarcophagi and then in hewn recesses59. One of the most important and best preserved monuments on the island, known as the “Lycian Tomb”, is situated east of the port, on the steep slope under the Kastro (castle), at an elevation of 30 m. above sea level60 (fig. 10, also see fig. 2). The entire monument is carved into the rock; the façade, recessed into the rock, has the form of a naiskos with a pedimental crown with acroteria, an epistyle with dentils and an Ionic moulding resting on pilasters-piers with Ionic bases and capitals. The doorway is ornamented with a triple band and crowned with relief acroteria, while carved notches indicate there were hinged door leaves. The chamber interior could contain six sarcophagi placed on six platforms arranged on two levels along the length of the three sides. The monument dates to the end of the 4th cent. BC or the early Hellenistic period61. It belongs to the Greek or Karian type rock-cut chamber tomb category, very common in Karia and Lycia, but extremely rare in the Dodecanese62. The Roman period monuments include a votive inscription with the name of Emperor Vespasian. It was found at Mandraki and is in the Archaeological Museum of Megisti. Two Roman sarcophagi, presumably from Megisti, are exhibited in museums located Fig. 10: The “Lycian Tomb” (22nd EPCA photo archive).

off the island. Both have relief mythological scenes and date to the 2nd cent. AD. The first is in the Louvre and depicts scenes from the myth of Artemis and Endymion63. A second sarcophagus, or rather an ossuary, known as the “Megisti sarcophagus”, depicts Diomedes’ abduction of Palladion and other mythological subjects and is exhibited in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens64. Fotini Zervaki

56. Kyparissis 1915. 57. A double shaft grave was found at Kangana on the Aulonia plateau; see Ashton 1995, nos. 38, 96, 97, 98. 58. Ashton 1995, 106-107, no. 19, 52, in the Sarina field. 59. Ashton 1995, 109. 60. Savignac 1917, 522; Wurster 1981, 217-226, figs. 3-7; Hope Simpson – Lazenby 1970, 76, fig. 18. 61. Ashton (1995, 94-96) thinks the grave dates earlier, to the 5th or early 4th cent. BC. 62. A second rock-cut chamber tomb containing carved platforms is at Ayios Georgios tou Vounou (Ashton 1995, 95 nos. 44, 97). This tomb was partially destroyed, when it was turned into a refuge during World War II. The only example of such a tomb on Rhodes is the half-completed Lycian Tomb at Skala, Kamiros; see Biliotti – Cottret 1881, 60-63. 63. See Michon 1917. 64. See Himmelmann 1970. However, the register of the National Archaeological Museum states the provenance of the sarcophagus to be “Karamania in Asia Minor”.